backing/honoring point
 

Can backing or honoring point be taught or is this something the dog does naturally?

What kind of dog ?
How old ?
What training have you done so far ?
Have you done whoa training ?



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Yes to training. Yes to naturally. Paul Long has an interesting method. He builds a semblance of a pointing dog out of plywood then uses it to teach honoring point.

I don't have that problem as I usually hunt alone. Even with a friend, he likes to hunt with dog, away from others. You can see the hierarchy between dogs as they hunt. If a young dog bothers my dog while hunting, she'll either ignore them or growl. When friends dog was younger, it didn't have a clue and my dog didn't show any respect. One time she bowled over her; no stopping, no trying to jump, just bowled her over. Now, my friends dog is hunting, my dog will respect her. If his dog is on a bird, my dog will back off.

Check out brad Higgins gun dogs. U want a steady dog? A dog that will honor? Check out his Web site. I have been training with brad for the last 8 months and I have a gsp that is steady to wing shot and kill befor she is a year old. No pressure and no whoa training. Best gun dog trainer in the country

The plywood cutout works and if you have the $ the remote silhouettes are ideal. A bird launcher placed in front of the silhouette is used to launch a pigeon at the moment the dog being trained shows awareness that there is another dog on point. Through repetition the dog will learn to honor because it will come to expect a flushing bird when it encounters another dog on point. Once your dog is whoa trained the process is fairly quick to teach/ further strengthen honoring.

Another method I use prior to the honoring training is throwing a paint roller in the air while the dog is running toward me. Upon release I whoa the dog. This is critical especially in testing when the dog must point every bird encountered- planted or flushed. The bird taking to the air will signal the dog to point/whoa. Once the honoring training begins the dog will already understand it must stop when it encounters a flushing bird and then will associate the other dog on point as being the same.

Take him hunting with another dog.. It should come natural and if not the other hunting dog will put it in it's place.. I have a fushing Irish Setter which I use mostly for locating birds.. I also have a pointing Irish Setter that I use as my main gun dog.. The flushing irish setter will stop and go on point as long as my pointer is pointing..

This was completely without any sort of training on the flusher.. It was a natural instinct. I also feel my pointer would clearly warn it if it was to react in any other way..So to get them to honor another pointing dog IMO is to find a hunter who wouldn't mind having you and your dog to tag along..

He is almost whoa broke..........about 90 % likely.
This has really helped. I whoa him when another dog points and now he is starting to back without being whoa'ed.
The more he hunts the better he is becoming.

I've got a plywood silouette but have never used it. If you time things properly, use another dog and a remote release trap. What you need to do it bring the backing dog in from where it can't see the pointing dog and the moment it looks at the pointing dog, pop the bird. Don't teach it till the dog is pointing and holding very well.

My present dogs are the only dogs I've ever had that did it naturally from the start, e. setter's. I've had a lot of shorthairs and pointers and they all got it really fast.